Topics - Ymir

A century is a long time. Twenty years ago no one could have imagined the effects the internet would have - entire relationships flourish, friendships prosper on the e-mail screen, there's a vast new intimacy and accidental poetry (from the osprey-tracking site to tours round old nuclear silos and the extraordinary aerial trip down the California coastline and a thousand others), not to mention the weirdest porn. The entire human experience seems to unveil itself like the surface of a new planet.

Whether the internet or any other technological marvel can halt the slide into boredom and conformism I seriously doubt. I suspect that (as I pointed out in Super-Cannes) the human race will inevitably move like a sleepwalker towards that vast resource it has hesitated to tap - its own psychopathy. This adventure playground of the soul is waiting for us with its gates wide open, and admission is free.

In short, an elective psychopathy will come to our aid (as it has done many times in the past) - Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, all those willed nightmares that make up much of human history. As Wilder Penrose points out in Super-Cannes, the future will be a huge Darwinian struggle between competing psychopathies. Along with our passivity, we're entering a profoundly masochistic phase - everyone is a victim these days, of parents, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, even love itself. And how much we enjoy it. Our happiest moments are spent trying to think up new varieties of victimhood...﻿

Is this album not the greatest "mainstreamization" of the ideas of black metal. I emphasis that word because this band seems to get a lot of flak. On analysis, this seems to be more due to the band's abandonment of rasps in favor of clean Halford-style heavy metal vocals. Other than that, it's pure black metal. The lyrics, the riffs, ect.

When I first heard this album, I was scared because it evoked the same emotions I get while listening to nostalgic childhood tunes like those from Debbie Gibson and Cyndi Lauper. The difference here is I didn't hear this album when I was a child. Perhaps it taps into something more universal.

Mail Online reported Thursday the emergence of a creature similar in appearance to 2008's Montauk Monster from a cave in Cerro Azul, Panama. The Montauk Monster kin allegedly approached a group of teens who became frantic when it allegedly approached them by climbing over rocks. Theteens threw stones at the Montauk Monster kin before beating the creature to death with sticks, then tossed its carcass onto rocks in a lake, later coming back to take photos.

Officials from the reserve’s wildlife department said there was no “explicable” reason for the falling number of tigers. But according to an independent report by India’s central forest ministry, it’s pretty obvious what has killed the tigers: poachers. The report claimed that “warning bells” have been going off for almost a decade, and park officials simply failed to address them.

The problem is so severe that the grim news is likely to get repeated regarding a third Indian tiger reserve– Sanjay National Park– where all of its 15 tigers are also suspected to have disappeared. These events raise serious concerns: Just how inadequate are India’s tiger reserves, and can anything be done to save wild tigers from extinction?

A century ago, there were an estimated 40,000 tigers roaming throughout India. Today there are only 1,400– and quite possibly less than that, if counting practices like those in Panna are any indication. The region’s forest minister reassured reporters that Panna’s counting practices were uncharacteristically incompetent, and listed several other parks– such as Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench– where counts are up-to-date and park management is held in high esteem. Even so, for a park like Panna to suddenly announce that all of its tigers have disappeared only 3 years after a healthy count of 24, seemingly right from under officials’ noses, makes such claims highly suspect.

Surely, with tiger numbers plummeting so quickly, someone should have taken notice before now.

The sad reality, however, is that the business of illegal poaching has become increasingly more sophisticated and deadly over the last few years. Cartels with organization and techniques similar to drug-smugglers have made it very dangerous and expensive for authorities to stop. Meanwhile, park officials probably turn a blind eye to the killings, either from apathy, corruption or being ill-equipped to combat it.

In order to save India’s wild tigers, more will have to be done besides buckling down on poachers and smugglers. Those smugglers won’t have a business if they don’t have any buyers. International pressure needs to be applied to consumers of poached tiger products, the main buyers for which are typically in Far East countries like China, Taiwan and Korea. Education needs to be widespread regarding the threat of poaching to the survival of tigers, and superstitions need to be dissolved regarding the erroneous belief that tiger products are medicinal.

After the Panna Reserve counted zero tigers left, 2 female tigers were immediately shipped into the park from surrounding regions. Four more (2 males) are likely to join them shortly in an attempt to repopulate the now beguilingly named “Tiger Reserve”. Though now, coupled with all of the publicity, it’s not clear whether these tigers will fare any better or if they’ll be more easily marked. Hope may be won or lost for India’s ability to protect its tiger populations pending the outcome.

Megadeth's hip to the current age. The metal band seems to know what's going on and has embraced things like the internet, YouTube and (getting on topic) video games — namely, Rock Band. Megadeth has put its breakthrough album Peace Sells...But Who’s Buying? as Rock Band DLC.

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine says the band currently does not have any intention of putting its seminal Rust In Peace out for Rock Band. However, Mustaine would "love" to talk to Harmonix (developer of Guitar AIDS) about just that. Continuing, he adds:"

In fact, I think the advent of these new games and YouTube and MySpace and being able to upload your music — it's the way of the future. These old fucking dinosaur bands that don't want to put their music up on iTunes or have anything to do with you guys doing games with Rock Band and stuff like that. It's just stupid. You know, just have mercy on them [the old dinosaur bands] and feel sorry for them and buy our stuff instead.

So which "old dinosaur bands" do you think Mustaine was referring to?

Some facts:

*Dave Mustaine is a worthless ex-junkie who found Christ at the end of a needle. *Megadeth was one of the first thrash bands to embrace MTV.*I liked some of their mid-90s output.